Lockhart and said, "Read to me; I am in such agony." He said, "What
book, Sir Walter?" "What book? There is but one book for a dying man;
it is the story of the One that passed this way before me, of Jesus the
Saviour." I stood the other day by the death-bed of one who, when I
first met him was a savage warrior. He looked up in my face and said,
"The Great Spirit has called me. I am going on the last journey. I am
not afraid, for Jesus is going with me and I shan't be lonesome on the
road." Brothers, it is to tell this story that you have banded
yourselves together in the service of Him who redeemed you with His
precious blood. Your motto must be the words of that sainted apostle
whose honored name you bear: "We have found Christ." For it is only
when we have reached out our hand to grasp the hand of Jesus, that,
because we cannot help it, we reach out the other hand to help some one
else. We cannot from the heart say, "Our Father," and not remember
wandering brothers whom we may lead to the Lamb of God that taketh away
the sins of the world. The story is not for wage-workers alone, not for
the poor in the attic and the cellar alone; it is for the man who lives
in the marble house, it is for the trafficker in the market, it is for
every one away from home and heaven and God. We must find the way to
speak as one tempted man has the right to speak to a brother that is
battling with temptation. It is not done by assailing sinners as you
would besiege a city. We have tried hard words and the have answered us
with a curse. It does no good to tell the poor wretch in the ditch, "It
is your fault." We have led men to Mount Sinai, and their hearts would
break if we led them to Mount Calvary. It is this that makes the life
of an earnest minister of Christ the happiest life that God ever gave to
man. I am not here to-day to tell you what to do, but to tell you your
Master's secret, "If you give Him the will, He will find for you the
way." Although you might be the veriest stammerer, if Christ speaks out
in all your life, you will be the best talker in the world. We must
believe in our work; we cannot make others believe until we first
believe ourselves. Our feet must be upon the rock; there is no question
of success or failure there. It may be Athanasius against the world,
but the Athanasius and the faith of Christ will conquer.
And lastly, brothers, never since man has lived on the earth has there
been an hour when a Christian man might be so thankful to God that he
can live and that he can work. In all the ages of this world's history
there never have been such marvels before man's eyes as we see to-day.
I speak not only of the wondrous secrets of God's storehouse, that, for
some end in the councils of eternity, have been reserved for the last
days. You are living at a time when impenetrable barriers have been
broken down; when God is fusing the nations of the earth into a common
brotherhood; when there is not a place in the wide world, where, if you
will, you may not carry the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Nay, more; you are
part of a race that God in His Providence seems to have placed in the
forefront of the nations of the earth. I am not speaking of
Anglo-Saxons, but I am speaking of the race that God has been fusing
out of every tongue, and tie, and kin of the earth; and they having one
language, are, I believe, to do God's work in the last days. One
hundred years ago English speaking people numbered less than many of the
Latin races of Europe; to-day there are one hundred and fifty millions.
And when I remember how God ordered that the Greek tongue should become
the tongue of the whole civilized world to prepare for the first
preaching of the Gospel; and when I think of all that God's Providence
has done for us, I can believe He calls us to lead on in the work of the
last time. In the days when Rome had overrun the world, if some one
regiment was to be placed in the jaws of death, and perhaps upon that
legion rested the fate of an empire, they came out in front of the
assembled host, and kneeling down on one knee they raised their hands to
heaven and took an oath to die for Rome; and that was called the
sacramental oath. And our Saxon forefathers, when they came to the
Lord's trysting-place of love, thought it was a place for taking the
oath anew.
After our Civil War, George Peabody, one of our noblest Americans, gave
his fortune for schools in the desolated south. He visited the White
Sulphur Springs. No king ever received so heart-felt a welcome. The
south laid the homage of grateful hearts at his feet. An aged bishop,
now in Paradise--Bishop Wilmer, of Louisiana, came to see him, and said:
"Mr. Peabody, I am a southern man, and my heart goes out in love for the
man who has been our benefactor. But, Mr. Peabody, if you are saved, it
will not be because you gave your fortune to the needy. You will be
saved, as the poorest laborer, for your faith in Jesus Christ." Mr.
Peabody said, "I know that. I do believe in Him; I do pray to Him."
"But," said Bishop Wilmer, "Mr. Peabody, the night before the Saviour
died for you, He instituted the sacrament of the Holy Communion, and He
left a request for you to come and receive it. He has a gift for you.
Have you ever come to His table?" Mr. Peabody said, "I never knew that.
No one ever told me. I knew about the Holy Communion, but I thought it
was for saints--men who felt sure they were going to heaven. I never
knew it was a place to come and receive a gift the Saviour had for me."
That day Mr. Peabody left the White Sulphur Springs. He knew that the
Holy Communion was to be celebrated in his mother's church, at Danvers,
the next Sunday. He reached Danvers Saturday, and at once called on the
pastor and said, "I am coming to the Holy Communion tomorrow. I did not
know it was my duty till a few days ago." And he did come. That was
royal faith. Not faith in water, not faith in bread and wine, not faith
in priestly hands, but faith in Christ. Such faith as little children
have who take the words just as they read and for all they mean, and
then are safe in the everlasting arms.
So let us to-day consecrate every thought and all we have to Him, and
giving Him the will go out to do His work. And He will do the rest. We
may fall in battle; we may sow the seed and die; but it will fall into
the ground and God will give the harvest. When we reach the other home--
not a place of bodiless shades; not a confused throng of nameless
spirits, but a home of brothers in our Father's house--next to seeing the
Saviour, next to having the old times re-united, will be the comfort of
meeting some one that we have helped home.
And now to God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost, be all
might, majesty, dominion and power, world without end. Amen.